


Promise Me

by The_Pen_Dragon



Category: Persona 5
Genre: 2/2, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Canon Compliant, Hope, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Promises, Spoilers for third term, the boys need to learn how to communicate, this fic murdered my beta reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Pen_Dragon/pseuds/The_Pen_Dragon
Summary: The evening of February 2nd. Maruki has explained things, and left Akira with a hard choice to make. Akira and Goro have some things to talk about, even if Goro thinks they don't.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 19
Kudos: 151





	Promise Me

When the bell chimed, leaving the two alone, the air became stiffly silent. Goro stood, arms folded, glaring a hole into the wooden floor as Akira's footsteps drew nearer. The other teen stopped next to him, just far enough not to be in Goro's face, but close enough that Goro could tell he hated to stand so far apart. A sneer was building on the detective's face, conflicting emotions roiling in his stomach and making him nauseous. 

"You knew… this whole time, didn't you..?" Akira finally spoke. And that was what he had to say? What did it matter? Why must he always  _ pry _ ?

"Do you take me for an idiot?" Goro snapped, "it wasn't exactly hard to piece together. I had a gap in my memory. From that horrible fucking ship up to when I saw you again… what else would have made sense? It would have taken a miracle to get me out of that situation. And, well, here we are."

Akira shook his head, "why didn't you tell me?"

"And give you a chance to doubt this plan? Please," Goro shook his head, still refusing to look at Akira, "you're too sentimental. If you had known, you might not have agreed to take his heart, and I couldn't have that."

"You don't think I deserved to know?!" Akira demanded.

Goro turned to him, red eyes boiling with contempt, "it's my life, not yours! You don't have a right to know a damn thing about me!"

Akira laughed incredulously, brow knit in some expression between anger and pain, "you're the worst person I know."

"Then you should be happy I won't be around much longer."

"Fuck you," Akira breathed out, so rife with fury and sadness. He shook his head and looked away, adjusting his lenses to obscure his keen eyes, "you know that isn't how I feel."

"Losing one person is worth it," Goro replied, voice flat and uncaring, despite the ball of tension slowly building in his gut, "all of reality, Akira. That  _ disgusting _ man thinks he can control the whole of reality, make everyone his happy little puppets! I refuse to be controlled by someone else like that. Not ever again."

Akira fiddled with his bangs, tugging hard enough that it looked like it hurt, "... Losing one person still matters-"

"You already lost Wakaba," Goro retorted, "Okumura. Makoto's father-"

"That's different!" Akira protested.

"How the  _ hell  _ is it any different?!" Goro snarled, "they were zombies, grotesque reanimated corpses who never should have been allowed to roam again!"

"They weren't real-"

"They were just as real as me-"

"THEY WEREN'T YOU!" Akira yelled, throwing his hands in the air, taking Goro off guard.

Akira was normally so calm, even when he was upset, he never expressed it much. But this… his hands were trembling. He looked unsteady. And, Goro realized, a wetness was slipping down his own face, painting the floor with his sorrow. Something small twisted in his gut, guilt, perhaps. The rest of him only felt angrier, however. How dare he..? This damn thief, how  _ dare  _ he stand there and act like Goro was somehow taking something from him?!

"Are you really that weak?" He spat, lips curled back, a harsh scowl on his tired face, "you have your friends, don't you? Stop acting like this is any kind of loss!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Akira asked, exasperated, "Goro, what the hell is  _ wrong  _ with you?!"

"Me?" Goro's hands fisted at his sides, fully turned towards his rival, "you're the one hesitating over  _ NOTHING!  _ You really want to act as though a life as trivial as mine-"

"It isn't trivial!" Akira said harshly.

"It IS!" Goro yelled back, "I'm not fighting with you over this damn it! Don't you get it?! My whole life-!" Goro shook his head, voice dropping back to a normal volume, "...I won't be controlled. I won't live in a world where my existence is owed to some man who thought he had the right to play God. If you keep me here, if you make me stay, you're denying me the only thing I want."

"To die?!" Akira demanded.

"To be  _ free _ ," Goro replied, looking at the floor again. "You have so much. Don't deny me this."

The air was still again, silent and heavy. Goro felt such disdain for the man next to him. Why was he hesitating like this? This was  _ exactly  _ why Goro had kept his distance, why he had tried to avoid Akira getting more attatched. The sentimental fool.

"...Goro-" Akira started, Goro cut him off.

"Say it."

"What?"

"I want to hear you say it," Goro repeated, looking at him once more, searching for his eyes behind opaque lenses, "right now. Tell me that you won't give up so easily. Tell me that you're still going to fight him."

Akira's lip quivered, expression unreadable if not for the tears still staining his cheeks, "I…"

"Your hesitation disgusts me," Goro narrowed his eyes, ignoring the trembling of his own fists, "my rival isn't really this weak, is he?"

Akira slowly lifted his glasses, pushing the farmes into messy waves and looking at Goro, unmasked. His eyes were slightly red, wet at the corners, but the silver of his irises gleamed as brightly as ever. "...I'll take his heart."

Goro nodded, satisfied with the answer. He took in a breath, finding his chest tightening for some reason he didn't care to think about, "good. You'd better not hesitate again."

With that, the detective turned to leave, knowing that staying in the other's presence for too long would be unhealthy for both of them. He wouldn't allow doubt to creep into either of their minds.

As he turned, however, he was suddenly caught by the arm, yanked back and thrust against the counter, pressed between two stools with the counter's edge digging harshly into his back. "What are you-?!" He started, but was cut off with the rough press of lips against his own.

Akira was holding his wrist firm in one hand, shaking from how hard he grasped, and the other was on Goro's throat, thumb and forefinger shoved roughly under his chin, tipping his face up by the neck. Goro's eyes were wide, his heart thundering in his ears as he tried and failed to sort through the tidal wave of emotions crashing over him. He felt like he was drowning.

He tried to shove Akira away, but the thief only held tighter, pressing his body against Goro's, holding him in place. He pulled back, eyelashes wet with beads of fresh tears as he searched Goro's face once more.

"If I have to lose you tomorrow, then just stay with me tonight."

Goro blinked, jaw working soundlessly, trying to find the right-no, any-words. He shook his head, angry and sad and longing and- "that's the worst idea you've ever had."

"I can think of a few worse," Akira replied, never letting go. It was as if he thought Goro would run the second he loosened his grip. He wasn't wrong. "You want me too, don't you? I didn't read that wrong, did I?"

Goro's expression turned from angry to bitterly tired. He huffed and looked off to the side, "you didn't. But that doesn't matter, tomorrow I'll be-" he grit his teeth and shook his head. The best he could while Akira still held his jaw, anyway.

"I know. I know. But… just once, just for awhile, can I just be selfish?" Akira asked, begged.

"Hmph…" Goro was just denying himself at this point, fighting against an embrace that craved him. He wanted to give in, let himself be warm, let Akira have this, let them both just  _ be _ for a while. But his head screamed at him how wrong it was. This body was barely even his, he was nothing but a corpse. A dead man forced to walk among the living, taunted with an affection he could never hope to reciprocate. Not as he was now.

"I don't get you," Goro whispered, "I'm so fucking tired, Akira. Can't you just let a dead man sleep?"

"You aren't dead. I won't accept that," Akira replied, resolute.

"Yes I am! I died alone in my father's damn palace, an easily forgotten failure! No one gives one single shit but you, and I don't understand WHY-" 

Goro was cut off by a harsh slap to the face, but it wasn't skin on skin, it was… leather? He stared at Akira, wide-eyed as the thief grasped an empty leather glove tightly in his fist.

"You weren't alone," he replied, "and you didn't die. You wouldn't, not before we fulfill our promise."

Goro's gaze softened, ever so slightly, "you hopeless fool…"

"You listen to me," Akira said, eyes burning with something Goro couldn't define, "I'm giving you what you want, and I have to watch you leave, yet again. If I can't have you for the rest of my life, then let me have you for the rest of this one. And don't you dare say we won't meet again one day. I won't hear it "

Goro stared at him, the glove, his face, his lips. He was serious, wasn't he? This stupid, stupid man… Goro shook his head, finally giving in. Just for now, just for tonight. 

He gave Akira a harsh shove, sending the thief stumbling and tripping back, falling onto the cafe floor. The detective was on him in an instant, straddling his waist and yanking him forward by the hair, crashing their lips together. "You really are a fucking idiot," he hissed against him.

Akira nodded in reply, hands sliding around Goro, curling into the thick material of his coat as he kissed him again. No more words were exchanged after that, the only noise in the air were the soft pants and shuffling of clothes. At some point they made their way upstairs, leaving a trail of winter attire behind them as they went.

The next hour was a blur of touch and emotion, warmth and affection, rough and wanting as they tried to devour each other whole. Afterwards they lay together in Akira's bed, sweaty and breathless. Goro felt hot despite the February chill. 

They were both covered in bruises now, Akira with darkening skin in the shape of fingers on his hips, and bloody teethmarks decorating his collar. Goro himself had several red hickeys patterning his whole body, marring his skin like a disease. He lay next to Akira, letting the other hold his hand between them. Goro couldn't bring himself to lie any closer, to be any more vulnerable than he was already making himself.

Akira ran his thumb over the back of Goro's hand. Goro could feel his gaze still on him, but didn't want to look over, didn't want to find what expression might be waiting for him. 

"Goro?" Akira asked.

"What is it?" Goro replied, slowly forcing himself to turn towards him.

Akira leaned forward, capturing his lips one more time. This time felt different, though. It wasn't soft, but it was still gentle in its own right. A deep, lingering kiss that took Goro's breath away. Akira's free hand came up to cup his face, and he could feel, in that moment, exactly how much Akira cared about him. 

When the thief pulled back, he looked teary again, but didn't cry. He smiled, this wobbly, false-confident smirk that didn't look quite right on his face. "Thank you for indulging me."

Goro huffed out a small laugh, turning his gaze back towards the ceiling. Akira's hand was still on his, "...Don't forget what we promised. One day, when you least expect it, I'll be there, waiting with a sword in hand, and I'll kill you where you stand."

Goro glanced over, catching Akira's genuine grin out of the corner of his eye as the thief replied, "I look forward to it."

**Author's Note:**

> Finally finished Royal yesterday and...literally could not stop thinking about 2/2... or Goro in general really. So anyway, I absolutely had to write this, I hope you all enjoyed reading it!
> 
> You can follow me @PentheDragon on twitter for updates whenever I post a new chapter or oneshot!  
> Love you all so much! <3


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